NH FIONNBARRA 3-7
LANNLEIRE 2-7

Naomh Fionnbarra claimed the Louth Junior Championship title in the most dramatic fashion possible when an Eoghan Osborne goal deep into injury time saw them break Lannleire hearts at Darver on Saturday afternoon.

It looked as the Togher side’s hopes of making an immediate return to the Intermediate ranks were over when they trailed by a point entering the fifth minute of injury-time at end of a tension-filled second half.

The Barrs supporters were beginning to fear the worst when Liam Shevlin and William Woods saw difficult opportunities to equalise go the wrong side of the posts.

However, with only seconds remaining they were handed a lifeline with a close range free that Woods tapped over the bar to level that game.

That wasn’t the end of the drama as straight from the restart, Eoghan Osborne showed a brilliant piece of opportunism as he intercepted Liam Callan’s kick-out and fired the ball to the net to snatch victory.

It was a devastating blow for the Lannleire men who looked certain to hold out for the win and a first Junior title in 35 years, but instead players and supporters were left shell-shocked at the final whistle.

It was no surprise that the game went right down to the wire as there was little between the teams throughout the game.

Lannleire were first off the mark through Killian Gregory but the Finbarrs hit the front on five minutes when Woods scored the first goal of the game and added a point soon after to put his team three clear.

The next six points were shared with Woods (2) and Padraig Butterly on target for the Barrs in reply to three efforts from Gregory, before Woods struck late in the half to put his team 1-5 to 0-4 ahead.

However, the Dunleer men had the final say before the break when fine move from a kick-out ended with Pierce Hawkins scoring his side’s first goal to reduce the gap to just one at the break.

Lannleire took confidence from that score and took the lead through points from Niall Lennon and Alan Murphy, only for the Togher side to retake the lead through a Conor Osborne goal on 40 minutes.

However, the momentum swung back to Lannleire when Alan Murphy’s effort sailed into the top corner and when Caoimhin Maher added a point on 55 minutes it looked as if the Christy Bellew Cup was heading back to Pairc Ui Mhuiri.

Woods gave his side hope when he pointed a free from distance two minutes later and just when it appeared that there hopes had disappeared, they snatch victory in a dramatic finale.

NH FIONNBARRA: Daithi Woods; Brendan Simms, Patrick McGrane, Kalum Regan; James Butterly, Hugh McGrane, Niall Woods; Josh Crosbie, Liam Shevlin; Máirtin Murphy, Conor Osborne 1-0, Ciaran Markey; Adam Hanratty, William Woods 1-6, Pádraig Butterly 0-1. Subs: Hugh Osborne for A Hanratty, John Doyle for C Markey, Eoghan Osborne 1-0 for C Osborne, Colin McGrane for J Crosbie, Michael McArdle for N Woods. 

LANNLEIRE: Liam Callan; Thomas Doyle, Paul McGeough, Jason Torris; Laurence McEntee, Briain McGuinness, Brendan McEvoy; Ian Mulroy, Pierce Hawkins 1-0; Gary Monaghan, Niall Lennon 0-1, Andrew Dowd; Alan Murphy 1-1, Killian Gregory 0-4, Darragh Malone. Subs: Paul Callan for A Dowd, Caoimhin Maher 0-1 for B McEvoy, Bob Murphy for A Murphy, Paul Doyle for T Doyle; Conal Maher for N Lennon.

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